The visiting Boston Bruins scored twice in the second period to break a 1-1 tie and held on to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in Saturday night’s battle of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division.
Viktor Arvidsson scored the eventual game-winner on a power play at 16:51 of the middle frame after Marat Khusnutdinov and Mason Lohrei gave the Bruins 1-0 and 2-1 leads, respectively.
David Pastrnak had two assists and Jeremy Swayman stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced for Boston, which bounced back from its first loss after a seven-game win streak.
Jake Evans and Cole Caufield scored and Sam Montembeault made 20 saves for Montreal, which has lost three straight.
The Canadiens had a 28-23 advantage in shots, but went 0-for-7 on the power play.
Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy did not return after taking a puck from a Noah Dobson slap shot to the face in the second period.
Following a physical start which saw Boston’s Nikita Zadorov and Montreal’s Jayden Struble fight off the opening draw, the Bruins took a 1-0 lead when Khusnutdinov received Pastrnak’s cross-ice feed and snapped a shot from the right circle off a Montreal defender in front and past Montembeault at the 8:38 mark.
Momentum swung back in the Canadiens’ favor as Evans beat Swayman on a 2-on-1 short-handed rush at the 12:12 marker, but McAvoy made a pair of key blocks to help Boston make its first of two extended 5-on-3 kills — both spanning longer than a minute — in the first two periods.
The teams combined for 34 penalty minutes and five power plays in the opening frame.
It took Boston just two minutes of the second period to grab the lead back. Mark Kastelic slipped the puck up the left side, where Lohrei triggered a point shot that beat Montembeault on the short side.
After killing off the second 5-on-3 and another minor in the period, the Bruins used a man-up tally from Arvidsson to double their lead with 3:09 left before intermission. Pavel Zacha dished a between-the-legs pass to Arvidsson, who slotted home a one-time shot from the low slot.
Montreal responded as Nick Suzuki’s saucer pass led Caufield in ahead of the defense to score a backhand goal at 4-on-4 strength, making it a 3-2 game with 1:16 left in the second.
